


Out of Focus

by Daiako (Achrya)



Series: Nesting [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Fluff, M/M, Nesting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-20
Updated: 2018-10-20
Packaged: 2019-08-04 17:57:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16351379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Achrya/pseuds/Daiako
Summary: “What did you do?”Kei glared at the wall, not liking the wriggle of guilt snaking through his stomach. “Why do you assume I did anything?”“Is Tadashi in heat?”“No.”“Pregnant?”“Wha- No!”“Then you did something.” Akiteru concluded





	Out of Focus

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little thing for a series I'm doing on tumblr about different ships and nesting, in the omegaverse.

Kei tucked his phone between his ear and his shoulder, a frown working at his lips as he listened to his brother’s entirely too happy voice on the other end of the line. 

“Can I record this?” Akiteru asked, glee dancing at the edge of his voice. Kei sighed loudly. “Come on, you never ask me anything-” 

“I wonder why that is.” 

“And now you’re calling me about your boyfriend. I almost feel like a real big brother.” 

“I’ll hang up.” 

He wasn’t going to hang up and Akiteru likely knew that. If he’d been in a position where he could just hang up because he was annoyed he wouldn’t have called to begin with.

This whole thing was uncomfortable for him, from getting into an argument with Tadashi and finding himself rather unceremoniously removed from his boyfriend’s room to having to call his brother of all people for advice. Calling Akiteru for help wasn’t something he’d normally think to do for all sorts of reasons (his brother was probably busy, Kei didn’t like having to ask people for things especially when it came to Tadashi which was a subject he shouldn’t need help with, Akiteru had to have better things to do than help Kei with his relationship crap and even if he didn’t want it weird to ask for advice like this?) but he couldn’t think of anyone else he’d dare ask. 

Someone on the team, maybe, though there was no way he’d ask an underclassman or Kageyama, which left him with their already graduated seniors and for all that everyone had moved on with assurances that they could be called for anything at any time messaging Suga or Ennoshita because he and Tadashi were fighting was on ‘would rather die’ level. Besides, Akiteru knew Tadashi and had for nearly as long as Kei had and he felt like he needed every layer of insight he could get here. 

He was embarrassingly clueless about where he’d gone wrong here, and he’d clearly gone very very wrong.  

Akiteru laughed again. “Okay okay, fine. It must be some ‘weird omega thing’ if you’re calling me-” 

Kei sighed again. Once, he’d gotten frustrated once and told his brother to stop projecting weird (alpha and) omega junk onto his and Tadashi’s friendship because they were above that, he’d thought at the time before realizing that no one was really ‘above’ it, and that there was nothing to be above, and now that they were dating he’d never be allowed to forget it. 

“So?” 

Kei pushed up his glasses to rub at the bridge of his nose. “We…he’s nesting?” 

Akiteru was quiet just long enough to make Kei’s discomfort spike right into anxiety. Was it that bad? He’d known it was a problem, or had suspected it was. Alphas didn’t nest and he didn’t have much by way of first hand experience with them so he hadn’t been sure what to think when he’d poked his head back into Tadashi’s room, obstinately to get his laptop, only to find his boyfriend completely focused on stripping his bed (and the guest futon) down to drag all the bedding and pillows into the small ‘nest’ room off of his bedroom. The door had been ajar, letting Kei see strings of lights and gauzy sheets strung up along the ceiling and walls, and the layers of bedding on the room before he’d hastily left the room, confused and feeling like he’d seen something he shouldn’t have

An omega’s nest was private and inviting someone in who wasn’t blood related was considered more serious than anything outside of bonding and mating. Kei had been inside Akiteru’s a few times, drug in to help move things around or sit with him, when he’d been younger and more or less scentless, while his brother suffered through preheats, but that was it. He didn’t know what to think about Tadashi working on his after their argument, except that it it caused an uneasy itchy feeling under his skin and, as soon as he’d gotten a little distance he’d started feeling restless and on edge. 

He felt like he needed to do something, that ever present but usually controllable urge to be closer, to get his hands on Tadashi and pull him in, curl around him and keep him far from the rest of the world. It was alpha shit, bubbling under his skin, permeating his muscles and nerves, clawing at his squirmy lizard brain. It wasn’t a seperate part of himself, no, but it was all emotion and little thought and the struggle to keep a clear head was always hardest fought when Tadashi was involved.  

“What did you do?” 

Kei glared at the wall, not liking the wriggle of guilt snaking through his stomach. “Why do you assume I did anything?” 

“Is Tadashi in heat?”

“No.” 

“Pregnant?”

“Wha- No!”

“Then you did something.” Akiteru concluded. Kei didn’t like how sure of himself he sounded. “It’s comfort nesting, we don’t just do that for no reason.” 

Kei had never heard of comfort nesting but he’d often found that a lot of nuance and important details in regards to secondary sex were left out of discussions. “We argued. …he’s quitting the team, to focus prep school but I don’t- his grades are fine. He’s one of the top ranked in our grade, and this is our last year.” 

Tadashi had pushed him into accepting the captain role when Ennoshita had informed them he wanted him to take over. Tadashi had agreed to be his vice. This was supposed to be their last, and best, year, with another run at nationals but without all the getting crushed ahead of time. They were supposed to keep their volleyball idiots in line together, whip the underclassman into shape and make sure they left Karasuno in a place to keep pushing for the top without them. All of that, together. 

Except not. They were barely a month into their third year, a month marked by Tadashi missing practice and breaking dates and falling asleep when they did manage to hand out, and Tadashi was backing out, and with no explanation beyond that Kei didn’t understand how things were different for him. How he was supposed to understand anything when Tadashi wasn’t telling him what he didn’t understand. It was stupid to just say what he meant, and maybe Kei had said so and that had only made things worse. 

Akiteru’s voice was almost painfully kind. “You’re an idiot.” 

Maybe he would hang up. 

“I quit in my third year too. Not just because of…you know.” The ‘Incident’, that they never talked about except in vague sidesteps and hand gestures. Kei’s stomach flipped and squirmed. “It’s harder, for omegas, to get in good universities, especially if we need scholarships. There’s this…assumption, that we’ll drop out to mate or end up pregnant, but that we need more accommodations, so we have to prove that we’re ‘different’, and serious.

“You want to go to Tokyo University, right? I didn’t even try to apply there because they take omegas so rarely.” His brother paused and Kei could picture his half smile perfectly. “But Tadashi could have told you all of that himself, so maybe I’m wrong.” 

Kei snorted. No, Tadashi wouldn’t ever tell him anything like that himself. If his boyfriend thought he might be holding someone back, holding Kei back, he’d never let anyone know about it. He’d just work harder, exhaust and break himself down to keep up while refusing to let anyone know or help. 

“What should I do?” 

Akiteru hummed. “No idea. Comfort nesting is for when you need to feel grounded and in control, and safe, you know? It takes different things for each person to get to that point.” 

Safe? Had he made Tadashi feel like he wasn’t safe with him? No, that didn’t make sense, he knew it didn’t. But, at the same time, that uncomfortable feeling building in his gut was getting steadily worse.

“Are you staying the night? Alone? Where’s Mr. Yamaguchi?” Akiteru asked, tone shifting from thoughtful to innocently curious. “Does mom know where you are? Are you being safe? I’m not ready to be an uncle yet so-” 

Kei rolled his eyes. “Goodnight, Aki-nii.” He turned off the phone on the sound of his brother’s surprised exhale and a overly loud “Kei!” 

His brother was the worst though, if he was being strictly honest, Kei couldn’t imagine trading him for someone else. And he had answered his question, and given Kei enough to go on to, hopefully, figure out what he needed to do.

\-----

Tadashi felt like an idiot. He was tired, exhausted really, behind in his cram school work, just barely keeping up with the increased workload in school he’d taken on this year, and instead of working on any of that he was in his nesting room, staring up at the twinkling lights woven in and out of the billowing sheets and scarves that made up the ‘roof’ and sides of the tend like structure he’d made. 

It had hard to focus on the work he needed to do, the work he was leaving the volleyball club to be able to dedicate himself to, around the harried feeling bubbling in his chest. He felt so…out of sorts, like his insides were wound too tight and being pulled out of place, like his skin was too tight, body too big, chest and heart seconds away from bursting out. He wanted to scream and cry and sleep and

He wanted Tsukishima, wanted to bury his nose into that spot behind his ear and breathe him in, wants his hands smoothing over his back, his face nuzzling against him, wanted to wrap around him, scentmark the alpha until everything was meshed and it was impossible to tell which scent note came from which of them. 

He’d spend so much time worried that they’d have to split up next year, that Tsukki would get into a school he couldn’t, that he’d have to go to an Omega University, holdovers from the days of segregated colleges that remained popular even now. They weren’t lesser schools, always, but the top rated ones were in Sendai and Osaka. Not impossible distance if Kei got into the school he wanted, Tadashi had looked at the trains and made plans in his more hopeless moments. Four hours one way, doable on the weekends assuming classloads permitted, or maybe every other weekend or-

It wasn’t impossible. They could do it. He was sure they could.

He didn’t want them to have to. He wanted them to be together, that had always been the plan. He didn’t mind working harder to do it, at all, he just hadn’t realized how much ‘harder’ that would be until Takeda had taken him aside and given him a realistic look. UTokyo had around 30% acceptance rate across the dynamics, which was already daunting, but for omegas it plummeted to single digits. For the engineering track the number fell even more, and those who got in were at the very tops of their years, and showed a single minded focus towards their goals. They weren’t the sort who played sports or were in clubs or had boyfriends who they happily spent most of their free time with. 

He had to switch his focus. Takeda and Ukai understood and Kageyama had, in his own stonefaced and taciturn way, accepted Tadashi turning over vice-captaincy to him without judgement, but Tsukki…

It was a lot. They didn’t see each other much, with cram school and everything, and now all of their third year plans were going to the wayside. To be together later they had to be less together now, was how it was turning out, and he…he hated it, he did, but he’d hoped Tsukishima would understand. He’d hoped talking about everything today would go better but instead Tsukki had told him he was being stupid and Tadashi knew he just didn’t understand the situation, Tsukishima’s life as an alpha was just different enough, and he was just smart enough, just athletic enough that when he tried things always worked out for him, and it was-

It was so-

It was hard, wrangling the part of his brain that wanted to cower and show his throat when his alpha was upset with him, so he’d all but kicked his boyfriend out instead of explaining like he’d meant to. He felt like he was always doing that when push came to shove, blew up and shouted at Tsukki when things bubbled over, even though it was often himself he was really angry with. 

But, of course, it was even harder to keep control after he’d told Kei to leave. He’d felt so alone, instincts going haywire as he grappled with his own upset, the linger bitter burnt scent of Tsukishima’s anger, the heart clenching fear that he was messing everything up, ruining them, losing what they had and that it wouldn’t be enough in the end, they’d end up not just at different schools but also with their relationship in shambles because of him. 

And it was stupid, a combination of normal anxiety and emotion bolstered by omega instincts, and need, and it was just so-

“Tadashi?” Kei’s voice came from outside the shut door, punctuated by a quiet tapping.

He sat up, two contrasting emotions racing through him: shock, panic because he was in his nest and Tsukishima was just outside, could open the door and see and Tadashi wasn’t sure he was ready for that, to have the alpha in his one space that was all his, his design, his scent, his perfectly safe place where nothing in the world could get in without his permission (or to see that Tadashi had stolen some of his sweatshirts and was using them as pillow cases). This was where he spent his heats, the time when he was most vulnerable, where he kept the things that meant the most to him, where he went when he needed to feel…better. But also that familiar pang of need, of wanting, of happiness and warmth that welled up inside when Tsukki was near. That something that made him want to purr, to touch and kiss and hold and drag him into the nest and spread Tsukki’s sent from wall to wall. 

He crawled over the futon, and the thick layers of blankets padding it, to the door. “I thought you left.”

“I was going to.” The alpha, his alpha, admitted. “I can, if you want but…I made you some tea. And brought up something to eat.” 

Tadashi chewed on the inside of his cheek, trying to decide what to do. He knew an apology when he was being presented with it (Tsukki was more about actions than words when it came to wanting to genuinely apologize, and more about words than actions when it came to justifying ignoring uncomfortable feelings.), but he also knew he wasn’t the only one who deserved an apology here.  

“Akiteru says that you’re, uh, comfort nesting.” Tsukki spoke again. Tadashi hissed through his teeth, face warming in mortification. That was what he was doing, wasn’t it? Running into his nest to hide away until he felt better, like a little kid running to their father, or to hide behind their much cooler best friend, when things got hard. Were other omegas like this, he wondered, unable to stop themselves from moments like this no matter how hard they tried to hold back? “And I thought this might help. Or…well. I’ll leave it out here and go.” 

Tadashi listened, breath held and ear against the door, to the sound of something being set down and clinking together, of feet moving around, of the bedroom door creaking and

“Wait!” He shouted, reaching for the door knob. “Tsukki, wait!”

He more flung the door open than anything, and almost went tumbling out into his bedroom with it. And there was Kei, standing in the other doorway, blinking at him owlishly, bag and coat tucked under his arm. A glance to the side as he tried to decide what to say, half out of his nest and hanging onto the doorknob as he was, found a tray with two steaming mugs of tea and bowl of sliced up fruit sitting on it. 

His heart fluttered, foolishly pleased with his alpha bringing him food in that silly primal way he tried to keep a grip on. 

He looked back at Kei then, in a split second decision, jerked his head back at the next room. “Umm. You can…you can come in.”

Tsukki blinked again and his cheeks went pink. “What? Why?”  

“I’m not…ready to come out? It’s weird, and stupid, but I’m not…” He stopped and shrugged, looking away. “But you can come in.” 

It felt right, now that was saying it. Embarrassing, to let someone into his nest (he hadn’t even let his father so much as look inside since he’d started having his heats) but good at the same time, to imagine Tsukki in there, with him. Who else, really, could he ever let in if not Tsukishima? 

“Okay.” 

“Okay.” 

It didn’t take long for Tsukki, and the tray, to find places inside and for the door to be shut. Tadashi said in the center, knees pulled up to his chest, watching as the alpha peered around, head tilted to the side and nose twitching. Tadashi wanted his approval, he realized with a surprised jolt. He wanted the alpha to like his space, to feel comfortable inside of it like Tadashi did, to…love it, like he did. 

“Nesting is weird.” Tsukki said, head tilting back to look up at the lights and sheets overhead. “But this isn’t so bad. I can see why you like it.”

Tadashi flushed hotter, pleased. “Well, it’s not anything, really. Just a big closet and…stuff. Nothing to do or-”

“Is that my hoodie?” 

Tadashi choked on his tongue.  


End file.
